Frustrations of a farmer……well this farmer anyway.

Let me name a few:
red text = the cRaZy story that has ensued since I first began writing this blog on July 4.....

• A barn finally completed 9 months after it was meant to be ~ through no fault of his own….. now to get the gates in... wood sides up..... hay stacked.... ya, OK it's not actually completed I guess.... getting there though..... the barn floor is finally down and finished... now to pick up the gates and cut hay this weekend in between farmers markets...... DAMN did I just say that?....ugh...reality just slapped me in the face #seeyouonmondayortuesdaydad

last year.......winter....then spring....then summer....patience is a WHAT?

• Animals that need to get out to pasture but a bit of fencing still needs to get accomplished….. not too big of a job right?.... if you like digging holes and pulling rocks out of the earth.... for 8 hours a day.... in the heat and mosquitoes.........ya, not so much for me either.....

solar electric fencing is slowly but surely getting finished....this is KIWI style fencing

• A full on attack on the turkeys ... then the laying hens..... then the meat birds............................ 'OMG' is a friggin' understatement..... due to cold nights, damp weather, and some crazy little rodent thing .....it seems the cold nights and damp weather have subsided leaving behind only the 'crazy little rodent' thing....... this thing only wants the birds for their legs….. still only legs!.... poor little guys are just left there…. legless….. this kills the farmer in so many ways… and well lets be honest.... it causes him to plough full steam ahead to WAR…. farmer vs. the wild…. .....the artillery now includes 30 traps, foot snares and one crazy MAD farmer...... you don't want to know the numbers that have perished in battle thus far.... unfortunately we just can’t figure out what is doing it!! We’ve attempted two sizes of live-traps but it seems the mystery animal only needs a couple of legs then it’s done for a few days (THEY ARE THAT GOOD I guess…..)….so it’s catching it on the right night with the right live-trap…which has alluded us thus far UGH!!! ......um,  it still alludes us....honestly...... our world sits on the edge every morning as Farmer Luke drives off to move the chickens....... it has been 6 days since I BEGAN THIS BLOG..... that's a long time on the edge of your seat for anyone! In that time we've narrowed it down to a probable RAT... but nothing has been caught...the 'probable' still lingers... The farmer is totally bummed because he doesn’t want to let anyone down….. and being a farmer is also about knowing his environment and what’s living around it…. so you can imagine the frustration and consternation ...understatement... this has created….. the life of a farmer eh! ….sigh. I have to say it has been amazing to see the support the farming AND trapping community has given Farmer Luke ~ it's really cool to see the community come together to help a farmer out.... and more particularly FARMER LUKE ~ SUPER COOL! 

poor little turkeys

• RAIN STORMS = MUD + WEEDS = MUDDY + WEEDING = TIME STEALERS!!!! Not enough time in the day…. with manageable weather and manageable mosquitoes…. to sit in the garden and weed... um, don't forget about the barn and fencing..... as Farmer Luke said… we need to farm in Yellowknife! 

Farmer Luke throwing in the towel....for the moment

• Having a young family, a wife who is still struggling to scale back her work hours, AND summer vacation with a 7-year-old at home and a 3-year-old in part-time Montessori….. this is uTtErLy CrAzY in all honesty….. I wouldn't recommend it...... but we are managing…. Luckily I’m extremely creative at entertaining from a computer screen in my office…. here’s an example of such an occasion:

Finn: Mom, I’m bored….

Granola Girl: Really….huh…how do you spell that again?

Finn: B.O.R.D.

Granola Girl: Almost…

Finn: E.D.?

Granola Girl: Yup… ok... HEY (in an excited voice), why don’t you go outside (adding this is like adding veggies to cake)… with this pen & paper and here’s some scissors, oh and a couple of paperclips would work too… and you’ll need some tape of course… a stapler….. and how about a couple of highlighters? K…. now go outside and build something CrAzY……..BORED.

Finn: MOM… MY NAME IS NOT BORED I'M FINN! Argh I hate that joke! 

          

And off he runs happily entertained and I’ve bought myself between 30 min to 2 hours ~ BOOYAH! … and I didn’t even leave my office chair!!!.... of course as the summer progresses the ideas wane but we won't go there until we have to...

Mr. Finn making a video game old school style ~ oh ya, I've got more where that came from!

So ya, that’s our world right now with the kids ~ Forrest is more manageable as she’s excited to follow Farmer Luke around whenever he lets her but she’s also a mama’s girl and loves to just sit with…. um… more like ON me in my office…. which is not so ‘computer work’ conducive… not sure if you’ve ever tried to write a memo with a squirmy 3-year-old on your lap or between your arms…. who also has a penchant to randomly push any button she sees #allworkgoneinaninstant…. gulp….. and if you do know what it is like… I suggest we get t-shirts and start a club.  

So needless to say there is a lot on Farmer Luke’s mind right now…. TOTAL UNDERSTATEMENT........! he’s wearing it well…...as best a totally stressing out anxiety ridden new farmer can.... I would be (and lets be honest I kinda am....) a total mess..... it's killing me not knowing what is eating our stock.... I'm also offended by the wastefulness of the attacks.... I mean killing a bird for one of it's little legs then leaving the carcass for naught is crazy frustrating...it’s obvious Farmer Luke is weighed down.....he's a little further down now..... we know that it is only going to get better once the barn is functioning, the hay is cut and stacked..hello weekend...er, I mean good-bye weekend....Oh, neat farmer fact: you need 4 clear days in order to cut, bale and stack hay...., the fencing is up and the animals are rotationally grazing…. oh… and the mystery rodent is revealed... I think you get the picture on that one.... I will say in the 6 days we have gone through 2 sizes of live traps, $50 on 8 proper rat traps which we used without success while offering this rodent a buffet of peanut butter,  almonds and grass-fed organic chicken legs, 4 rat boxes which the storm last night prevented us from testing their potential..... clearly the extent of the current artillery is reflective of Farmer Luke's frustration (for lack of a better word).... and although supportive in the madness and calm...... I can't help but think of CADDYSHACK... wow there's my 80's sentimentality again... hehehehe...... I think I'll share this with the farmer after this has all past for fear the humour would be lost ....  
 

Caddyshack, circa 1980....another iconic Chevy Chase film

Anyhoo... that moment when all is well will come and it will be SPECTACULAR and we know it’s really just around the corner…. I guess it’s just one last great big bumpy ski hill to climb over and then we’ll be there!!!! um.... did I mention neither of us ski?...... coming down should be fun!!!!


STAY-TUNED FOR MY NEXT POST entitled:
.....just when you thought you were getting out of the RAT RACE 

NOTE: Title subject to change....

     

This update has been brought to you by the letter 'B'

Well the kale must be kicking in because I’m feeling like I’m coming out of the haze…..so on that note, lets get you up-to-date on the comings and goings of the farm thus far….

1. BELLA – that big fluffy white ball of ‘almost a farm dog' is AWESOME!  She’s settled in well to hanging at home protecting the house and her human flock of sheep… oh, on that note…. it was quickly discovered that there are certain instincts you can’t change in a dog… and with Bella… it’s herding. YUP, she’s constantly attempting to herd us to some unforeseen paddock and away from some unforeseen danger. It’s amazing really…. she does this a variety of ways:
• by pushing you from behind with her head
• coming around to the front of you and walking into your path forcing you to move where she wants (pretty good roller derby move…she’d rock as a blocker)
• she’ll lean on you
• or she’ll put her open mouth on your leg or hand provoking you to move

It’s completely endearing and totally annoying at the same time. I’m constantly explaining to her that I am not a sheep…. mind you she doesn’t seem to listen…. The other amazing thing about Bella is her friendship with Mr. Fab Finn’s cat Greywacke Jones… the two hang out together all day….. Bella will jump around him in an attempt to ‘play’ and Greywacke taunts her with hopeful anticipation when WHAM the paw comes up and SMACK in the air AND THE CHASE BEGINS!! Greywacke runs and Bella chases… up a tree, into the garden, up the play structure or onto the pool deck ~ these are all NO BELLA terrain and Greywacke knows them well…. two days ago Farmer Luke let Bella out in the morning and said that a very groggy Greywacke walked out behind her…. love me some inter animal friendships!!

super sweet friendship ~ in the end though...cats are in control!

2. THE BARN – this has become a bit of a dirty word in our house… it’s the silent elephant in the room….. it’s the furrow in the farmer’s brow….. it’s the one thing that is preventing us from truly soaring….. there have been some glitches in it’s assembly and we’ve had to patiently wait for everything to fall into place ~ I am glad to say that the engineer has now signed off on the project and we hope to have all the animals home and grazing by the beginning of July ~ THERE I SAID IT….. ugh, the Irish in me can’t believe I just said it…. but I did and I’m owning it (fingers-crossed…please make it happen, please make it happen, please make it happen)…. the hay is being cut this week in anticipation of the cows and sheep coming home…. the solar-powered electric fencing is sufficient to begin the rotational grazing …. solar-water pump is next and then WE’RE OFF!! It’s so close I can almost taste it……and it will be nice to get the house back because that is one big ass elephant!

 

enough already ~ lets get this party started!!!

3. THE BOUNTY – this past Thursday we had our first chicken harvest of the season…. this involved Farmer Luke and WWOOFer Phillip getting up at 5:30 a.m. and heading out to the field and wrangling 100 chickens into cages…. I’ve never witnessed this but it does remind me of a funny story….. hahahaha lesson’s learned by a farmer ~ our first season we had a friend grow some chickens too… as a general rule the day before harvest you are asked not to feed the chickens…. Farmer Luke chose to move the tractors onto plywood for the day…. our friend decided to put a tarp down because he didn’t have plywood to use…. then it rained.......lets think now…. after chickens hang out on a tarp for a day there tends to be some waste (for lack of a better word....or is that the better word?)…..and then it RAINED.   ......now try wrangling chickens....can you say chicken run slip and slide! ~ EWWWWWWWWW! Yup…. it happened and it wasn’t pretty…. hahahaha just picture it…. Farmer Luke arriving home at 7 covered in…. well.... you get the picture….. all he said was, “well we now know why you shouldn’t use a tarp” ~ BHAHAHAHAHA!! we've since discovered that it is fine for the chickens to eat just grass so now we only have to take out their organic feed…. of course it’s better and less stressful for the chickens too ~ not to mention the FARMER.

anybody for some delicious smoked chicken quarters? such a sweet bounty...

So there you have it ~ this update has been brought to you by the letter B ~ Bella ~ Barn ~ Bounty…..and the number 3

OH for those wondering…… the latest canoe fishing challenge did in fact result in complete soakage but the canoe remained upright…… the sky fell this time…. at least no shoes or cell phones got wet!

  

Finding inspiration amongst the mundane…….

Among or amongst? ……huh...I checked and surprisingly there is no difference between the two other than the fact ‘among’ is Old English and ‘amongst’ is Middle English…. so really it’s just a matter of the writer’s acoustic sensibilities….. um….. I'm sorry….. SEE WHAT I MEAN?!? Obviously I’m scrounging for inspiration….I mean…among or amongst? Come on now…

so I’ve sat down and started about four posts since my last one…. I’ve attempted banter about wwoofers, eggs, potato bugs and Bella…. I’ve listened intently on Farmer Luke’s downloads throughout the day hoping for a morsel of ‘something’ for which I can just jump on the tangent train….but nothin’…..nothin’! My lack of inspiration of course could simply be the result of something I call ‘beginning of market season haze’… After the first few weeks of market season…. weekends become a blur….. you beg for muscle memory to ease the transition smoothly…. 6 a.m. on Saturday morning IS normal….. 6 a.m. on Saturday morning IS humane… 6 a.m. on Saturday morning IS good for you…… when in actual fact 6 a.m. on Saturday morning IS like a big warm bear hug that lingers a bit too long….. OK…. yes... you get the picture….. I’m clearly off the adrenaline of ‘YAY MARKET SEASON!!’ and ‘it’s a well rehearsed play’... blah blah blah….. the reality is I’m staring at a 21 week run and it’s a soldout house every single weekend!!! ….so ‘transition’ is putting it mildly….. of course, layer that with not having any right to complain as Farmer Luke is up at 5 a.m. on Saturday, 6 a.m. Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. on Sunday….he wins! Of course I wasn’t attempting to beat him….

SEE?!? I mean mundane right!.....I'm talking about our sleeping patterns for crying out loud (hahaha ~ I totally heard my mom in me right now!) 

It’s Tuesday and I’m already planning for Saturday having just gotten off from Sunday…. that’s one day off folks…. and it wasn’t off…. oh no!… it was full of case digesting, telephone calls, letter writing and accounting… I know what you are thinking… “what’s not inspiring about that?!” ….YUP… not even my sarcasm is colourful…. I’m just blah…. BUT FRET NOT everything picks up a bit around bean season (which incidentally is just around the corner)… by then the overload of kale in our diet has kicked in and we get a second wind!

So here’s hoping for a renegade chicken just before Thursday’s harvest….

come on chicken....give me SOMETHING to work with!!

.....or maybe we can rehash an oldie but a goodie as Farmer Luke attempts the canoe fishing trip again this evening with our Austrian WWOOFer (I kid you not!... it's now the 'canoe fishing challenge')….. 

 

a mundane photo of Mr. Tippy Canoe

.....or perhaps something inspiring will burst forth from the kale patch…..    

KALE! .... I can hardly contain myself....ok I AM excited about kale chips!

.....stay-tuned folks as it can only get better than this!

 

effective mosquitoes, flannel sheets and kid germs…..

being sick in and of itself just plain sucks.....being sick while trying to sleep in a humid room while kicking yourself for not changing the flannel sheets sucks even more......OH WAIT!...being sick and overheating on flannel sheets while swatting mosquitoes is just plain OBNOXIOUS!! Luckily I'm an insomniac....so now I'm up and I can kill those buggers face to face...while sick and overheating....

….so why not write? right?......WHAT!!!!?....are you kidding me?!!....... ok…being sick and overheating on flannel sheets while swatting mosquitoes AND a big noisy fly is pretty much breaking point!! 

Hello 1:29 a.m. …..for the safety of myself and the fly I need to vent onto the page in a long diatribe about sickness… flannel sheets in summer weather…. mosquitoes…. and noisy big ass flies…

1. sickness: whenever I’m sick I can’t help but think about the kids…. yes, the kids…. and not in a ‘OH NO now I’m going to be less of a mom’ kinda way…. nope…. it actually suddenly dawns on me in a complete moment of ‘aha!’…. “holy shit they did feel like crap!”…. that moment when you feel their pain… their stuffy head and runny nose…. their slightly swollen glands and phlegmy throat….. WHOA… wait a minute…. phlegm?.... who the hell knows how to spell that off the top of their head?.. and if like me you can’t… good luck sounding it out…. there is just so much going on phonetically!!! …ok…. anyhoo… ya…. that moment I realize I probably shouldn’t have finished their virus infected dinner attempting not be wasteful…. or maybe ‘kiss torture’ should not have been on the agenda during those critical days when the small humans were contagious…. ya…sickness…. that’s what I think… sniff sniff cough… I will be more aware in the future…
2. flannel sheets in summer weather: um…. ya…. epic fail on that front!! ...and I’d like to say this was the first time this has happened…. I really would… but the honest truth is every year I am faced with the same crappy night’s sleep prompting me to change the sheets…. in fact from this day forward it will be called “SCREAMING HEAT FLANNEL SHEET” night…. an annual event!....nice….. and it’s not like I can wake Farmer Luke from his restful (albeit mosquito interrupted) sleep to….um…. change the sheets…. now can I?....risk that… you don’t wake a sleeping farmer…at least not mine. So after tossing and turning, sweating and sticking, swatting and cursing and dreaming of various ways to cool down (would Farmer Luke notice if there was a sopping wet cold towel next to him?…. do I go and steal one of the children’s fans #whydidntigetours? #wtf? ....hmmm I bet the wood floor is cold…) …the thing that sucks the most is that you don’t want to be uncovered (hence potentially cooled down) for fear of the mosquitoes that are just waiting for warm steamy flesh to be exposed….. ARGH!!!!!!!!!! ..... in the end I simply gave up and here I am dreading the moment I need to get back into that bed with my already feverish body and inevitably have to meditate through the heat…ugh……
3. mosquitoes: ahhhhhhhh the quintessential icon of a Canadian summer in the country… when that small window of cool spring sunny days allowing for endless unbridled outdoor activities breaks and the onslaught of swatting and itching begins… that time when the world of bug spray and citronella steps onto the stage… as I lay in bed endlessly swatting at the air in hopes of killing the buzzing in my ears I can’t help but think of a saying I heard from a very brief… very inspiring... and very influential meeting last summer…. the saying is “if you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito”….DAMN RIGHT!!! Interestingly this was said by a man who ran unassisted across Canada raising money for children’s hospitals…. Mr. Jamie McDonald. One night last July Farmer Luke brought him home after passing him running on our road near dusk… always willing to help someone out we happily took Jamie in for the night and fed and watered him…. what an amazing AMAZING man…. incidentally he began this run after cycling 14,000 miles from Bangkok to his hometown in Gloucester, England AND gaining the world static cycling record pedaling straight for 268 hours…. yup, I’m exhausted just writing this… and this guy just happened to run by our farm and needed a safe place to crash…. um, ok!?!… from that day forward we followed him as he continued to run UNASSISTED across Canada from summer to winter finally making it to the western coast just after February ~ AH-MAZE-ing!!! …that’s one mosquito I’m happy to say has passed through my life… check out our addition to his documentary (10 mins and 22 secs in....there we are) and I HIGHLY recommend watching more of his videos as he's really funny and... well...  Canadians rock and their hospitality is astounding!!… bet you get hooked… wow I just managed to turn an annoying encounter with a mosquito into an uplifting and inspiring moment…huh.
4. big ass noisy fly: …um….sorry….he didn’t make it.

2:13 a.m…..well that killed a few minutes…..now I’m still sick…. only slightly overheated and cooling down….. and the mosquitoes seem to be feasting on the humans upstairs and the fly is…well…gone…. huh…wonder what’s on the food network?                 

night night

the hesitant loyalist......

So we just came off the first full weekend of farmers markets for the 2014 season….WOW what a mixed bag of emotions that was! It’s always a big deal…for me at least….of course not everyone is a type A perfectionist like me that ultimately just needs to chilllllllll-lax…ya, k…I know...and maybe one day I will….but in the meantime lets get this party started! ...hmmmm, how many balls can I juggle at once? 

I always like to do something new each year and besides a new delicious flavour of CHILI & LIME chicken jerky…and a sticker line promoting Earth conscious farming......I also pulled some custom t-shirts out of my bag! BOOYAH! 

enter MARKETING 101….

That's right.....in a stroke of brilliance I decided we needed to be....THAT family….you know, the one you can pick out of a crowd wearing matching t-shirts...usually at an amusement park…..you know who I am talking about....yup that’s us!! …. LOUD AND PROUD…. it's actually quite funny because I always mocked my mother for dressing my brother and I in matching outfits…. OH WOW... OK.... here ya go folks.... and it's not even Thursday…. 1978…..my older brother and I are both dressed in matching handmade brown velour one-piece jumpers…I kid you not!  

SEE ~ told ya!...thanks for the pic mom

In an attempt to break free from that 'image'....not of us cuz we're pretty friggin' cute... and the potential mockery later when the children inevitably discover we aren’t the coolest people on Earth… I reinvented the 'theme' in a cool tie-dye kinda way (think marketing....)...our shirts are all unique designs but with matching gold, green and blue tie-dye!! The idea seemed super cool from a marketing standpoint ~ we printed on catchy phrases like, “grass isn’t just for rolling in” and “know your food ~ ask my dad” for the kids and “know your farmer, know your food” for us…..we asked an amazingly talented tie-dye artist (Goodies by Maryse) to custom make our shirts and they turned out amazing!!! ..... I mean awesome right?! ...in an eye-catching, attention seeking, living in a fish bowl kinda way... LOCAL, LOUD AND PROUD!!!…. right?….. um ya!…. riiiiight….. okay…. I need to confess something…. getting ready Sunday morning with everyone dressed in matching shirts made the introverted me wonder if I could actually commit to this attention….you see, I couldn’t help but feel a wee bit weird about wearing them….don’t get me wrong! I’m totally proud of the farm and the marketing opportunity of this endeavour has certainly not gone unnoticed....and the kids and Farmer Luke LOVE wearing them ….but I have to admit…I was hesitant donning my shirt for the market….why you ask? …. Good question! … am I not a team player? ….don’t I want to shout out to the world that we’re on a journey to feed our community and we need you to come along for the ride?....wasn't I loyal?... OK....it really wasn't that philosophical.....it's just... I couldn't help feeling….. a bit like….. the Griswolds of the farmers market…
 

meet the Griswolds - 1983

I know my 80’s sentimentality was getting the better of me and there was nothing to be embarrassed about…..it's just the image of us in my mind and perhaps some residual subconscious insecurity from around 1978 (love ya mom!!)...left this nagging feeling in me...

BUT you know what?!….. IT DIDN'T LAST LONG.... after hanging with the fam all day talking about the farm and being able to easily spot Ms. Rea and Mr. Fab Finn out of the sea of peeps at the market as they ran back and forth from our booth to the kid zone …. (cue "aha!" moment and instant kinship with THOSE families at the amusement park...I get it man ;) ...OH and informally winning the best mother/daughter outfit of the day…. I have to say I AM PROUD to be a Griswold and YES, you CAN spot us out of a crowd in our tie-dye uniforms of gold, green and blue….and in the end...I guess that’s kinda the point!  

MEET THE GRISWOLDS

 

LOUD AND PROUD Ms. Forrest Rea

peace loving Mr. Fab Finn

funky Farmer Luke

and that's me....Granola Girl...too legit to quit!

LOCAL, LOUD AND PROUD BABY!!

Tipping WWOOFers......and I don't mean cash.

When in Canada canoe right? It made sense to us (note the past-tense) and we just so happened to have a canoe AND a river along the farm….BOOYAH…come hop on the Canada train wwoofers!

um…ya…

....we were wrong…it’s not that easy….

Haurki, our second EVER wwoofer was from Japan and had been to school in BC the previous year and was wwoofing his way to Toronto to catch his flight home. Really sweet kid….and we were his last hosts.

Haurki getting a lesson from Ms. Forrest Rea

Well one evening Farmer Luke asked him if he wanted to go fishing down at the river (which incidentally is chock a’ block full of hungry pike) ~ Haurki’s eyes lit up in excitement… “Oh YES please” ….in order to round off this ‘Canadian experience’ Farmer Luke decided they should fish from the canoe! But of course…you’re in Canada right….and we want to give you an honest feel for the culture ~ bring on the CANOE!! Farmer Luke went about loading the gear, strapping the canoe to the roof of the truck and making sure he had his phone and life jackets ~ READY. STEADY. GO!! And they were off…I stayed behind with the kids and anticipated their return….

and what a return it was!! ....the door opened to a ….

Soaking.

shivering.

Bootless.

Farmer.

.…with a dripping phone…

ahem…ummm….chuckle….sorry….giggle…snort...SO SORRY!!...

the story goes………

Farmer Luke loaded himself, the gear and Haurki into the canoe….having foresight enough to establish that Haurki couldn’t swim, Farmer Luke provided a life jacket….the Farmer did not wear one because he could swim…and he didn’t think it was that deep anyway…..so no life jacket BUT he did have on his brand new shiny gum boots that had arrived 4 days prior from New Zealand as a present from his parents….smart farmer always prepared for mud. Anyhoo…they were enjoying the evening floating and fishing when Haurki’s hook got caught on a branch…always a helpful fisherman….Farmer Luke said he’d grab it…well whether it was Haurki’s inability to completely understand Farmer Luke’s unique ‘kiwi canadianese’ or his insatiable need to assist…either way… Haurki thought he’d lean in and hold the branch for Farmer Luke….well…..common canoe knowledge tells you that two people leaning on the same side of a canoe does not make for happy canoeing….SPLASH!!!.....or maybe just more of a…SLUUURP! ...as the river engulfed the canoe sending gear and wwoofer bobbing and floating away……and clever Farmer Luke had his new gum boots on and his phone primed in case of emergency! giggle

Farmer Luke described the scene as such…..I quickly realized that I had to let me boots go or else drown…have you ever tried to swim in gum boots?.....well, no…I’d never wear boots in a canoe any good Canadian knows that… I THOUGHT TO MYSELF… well you don’t swim you sink! It’s like having a couple of led sinkers attached to your feet!...so I had to let them go…but I had a good look around so I know where they are if I want to get them back ….INTERESTING… holding my tongue… once I dumped my boots I gathered all the gear as Haurki bobbed in the distance observing the entire scene with a look of extreme concern and apology…once I got us all to shore, including the sinking canoe… Haurki broke the silence with a “SO sorry...and you lost your new boots...I’m SO sorry!!!”...all I could do is laugh!...there was nothing I could do about the boots or the phone it had happened ....and looking at us it WAS pretty friggin' funny!

 

OK….so once bitten, twice shy right?….um, ya right. From that experience we learned:

1. Do not wear shoes in the canoe…of any type.
2. Utilize water-proof bags for any electronics. Putting the phone in a bowl of dry rice for days may have contributed to the remaining limited functions of the unit…..however avoidance would be the best solution.
3. Teaching canoeing and fishing for the first time to anyone should be done as separate activities…  

OK…..so flash forward to two weeks ago when Linda, a really sweet girl from Germany, ventured out on her canoe trip…..what were we thinking?.....I went off to run errands while Farmer Luke got her prepared and set her off…..when I got back Linda was home.....not a good sign. 

So the story goes….

Farmer Luke approached this canoe trip with the gift of hindsight ensuring the following was in place:

1. All shoes were off
2. Phone was in a waterproof bag
3. Life jacket was on
4. AND…no fishing gear was in sight!

OK….we’re good to go! ….er…I mean…YOU are good to go…See Ya Linda!!

WHAT? ….you’ve never canoed before?....it will be fine…. just paddle....she seemed so confident..... 

That’s right! Linda went out on her own having never been in a canoe before….OH and that’s not all….it was also a ridiculously WINDY day! BUT I’m sure that when the inevitable tipping occurred she was ever so grateful that she didn’t have any shoes on and that she could call for help once she made it to shore….YAY US! high-five foresight!!....of course what we didn’t factor in was the 10 mins getting to shore…in spring water….in April….that’s cold! The rescue involved knocking on doors and backyards but Farmer Luke was able to save yet another wwoofer from a canoeing mishap….feeling horrible for her (but also seeing the humour and the story-telling benefits) I decided to round off her Canadian Canoeing Catastrophe with s’mores around the bonfire ….#whenincanadaeh

Linda capping off her canoeing adventure with her first ever s'more

So now what have we learned about wwoofers and canoes? ….tell them these two stories and let them make up their own mind…. sometimes you gotta live life to laugh…making memories one tipped canoe at a time ;)

***no wwoofers were harmed in the making of these stories

So I stole the new farm dog……

While I was away for work this past week a number of new and exciting adventures began on the farm….

The first call came just after the kids' bedtime my first night away…picking up the phone expecting to hear “Forrest won’t sleep unless you say good-night to her” but instead I was greeted with a chorus of “WE HAVE A NEW PUPPY AND HER NAME IS BELLA!!!” ….what the?....  Ohhhhh…. kkkaaaaaaay?!... I did know this might have been a possibility but I had not quite committed to the thought at that point… slight shock swam over my body as I contemplated what this meant…you see, I have never had a puppy before… we grew-up in a ‘cat household’ and our Greywacke Jones and Burt are testament to my historical devotion to cats…but now a DOG?! WOW that concept both frightened and excited me ~ the challenge was mutually daunting and a curiosity ~ the loyalty was equally irritating and intriguing… my mind was spinning...luckily I had two more nights to sleep on it...

….the next morning I awoke wondering how this ‘puppy’ was getting accustomed to the new environment and how the kids were reacting ~ curiosity got the better of me and I ventured into the arena of interrupting the morning routine in order to get the lowdown on Bella’s first night… in a brief discussion I heard that it wasn't as smooth as was hoped because in order to train Bella as a working ‘farm dog’ there was a ‘hands off’ policy and apparently she just seemed bummed… OH NO!! POOOOOOOOOR BELLA!.... Farmer Luke should NOT have told me that....as that was the beginning of her demise as a working ‘farm dog’…..

…the next two days/nights involved me checking up on her regularly and asking detail upon detail about her day and her disposition… and to make matters worse… Farmer Luke, who is hopeless on a computer (he'll happily attest to this), was unable to provide me with a picture of this new….fluffy…. baby….. puppy…. that needed….. ME….er…. I mean the FARM …ahem…..so yaaa, OK... I’ll keep my hands off her and respect the ‘training’… for the sake of the farm…no probs!............

…on the morning of my departure the second adventure of the week arrived....I got a very special call from our little Forrest Rea saying... “Moooommy? Mommy! Moooooommy! We have a new baby cow! Socks had her baby!....Oh ya! Oh ya! Oh ya! Whoop Whoop! OoooooH YA!” …. by the way, we tend to breakout in dance whenever something exciting happens…..*insert image*….Farmer Luke then came on the line and was clearly bursting with excitement ~ exploding with delight and beaming with confidence ~ it was a magical moment as it represented the beginning of the first calving season at Earth’s Harvest Farm….then it hit me....we are actually realizing this amazing dream that two years ago wasn't even in our vocabulary…Farmer Luke knew it too..I could hear it in his voice…..fighting off the urge to further romanticize about the enormity of the event, I listened as Farmer Luke painted the picture of what this meant for the farm and the pastures…. so exciting and we still had one more birth to go....

…my arrival home was full of anticipatory butterflies and giggles of homecoming as I was met by Ms. Rea and Farmer Luke at the train station ~ the drive home was a frenzy of excited natter covering various topics of animal husbandry and the ‘know how’ and ‘what to do’ when rearing a working farm dog that will protect the herd from predators….I was certainly drawn into the ‘idea’ of a working farm dog and I understood the need for one at this initial stage…I agree the concept is actually really COOL….um ya…the CONCEPT was great....but putting it into PRACTICE was a complete FAIL....on my part. 
 
immediately.

the moment I set eyes on her.

I didn't even think twice I just dove right in....hands off what? 

completely unabashed.

HONESTLY!! What was Farmer Luke thinking?…did he actually think for one minute I’d be able to resist the temptation to snuggle and cuddle and love and care for this…not so small…12 week old fluffy white puppy? I mean COME ON I’ve never had a puppy before...my defenses are pretty much non-existent ~ what the hell do I know? I just see fluffy white adorable puppy….nothing more….nothing else......ain’t naiveté adorable?! 

….it instantly became “PUPPY PLAYTIME” and the kids and I spent the entire evening outside playing and loving-up our new Bella….er....I mean....the ‘working farm dog’… Farmer Luke kept his distance probably in hope of fixing any damage this unfettered fun might cause….but by day three he had to step up and crush our frolicking antics….OK…the truth is…by day three I pulled the plug on the working farm dog thing and declared Bella to be part of the family….that’s right…I’m a mama bear and if you think I’m going to ignore a white fluffy puppy on my property until the barn is finished you’ve got another thing coming!  

Sorry Farmer Luke….the sheep can have a Llama

To round off our week of new adventures...Sunday night the second and final calf was born ~ calving season is officially over at Earth’s Harvest Farm and our first 100% organic grass-fed herd of Angus is underway!!!!!!!  

Woohoo Woohoo WHOOP oh ya oh ya WHOOP WHOOP oh YAAAAA!
*happy dance time*